Loading machine



Nov. 24, 1931. F. E. CHRISTOPHER 1,832,965

LOADING MACHINE Filed Sept. 19, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet, l

gin wanton Gummy Nov. 24, 1931. F. E. CHRlSTOPHER LOADING MACHINE FiledSept. 19, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wa t Nov. 24, 1931. F. E. CHRISTOPHER1,832,965

LOADING MACHINE Filed Sept. 19, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Nov. 24, 1931. F.E. CHRISTOPHER 3 LOADING MACHINE Filed Sept. 19, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet 4gmwntoz flullll'firirlqaler Nov. 24, 1931. F. E. CHRISTOPHER LOADINGMACHINE Filed Sept. 19, 1929 5 Sheets-Sheet, 5

ww wk Elm Patented Nov. 24, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANK E.CHRISTOPHER, OF MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOB TO CON- TINENTALCOAL COMPANY, OF FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA, A. CORPORATION OF WESTVIRGINIA LOADING MACHINE Application filed September 19, 1929. Seriallo.393,745.

The invention relates to loading machines, and has as an object theprovision ofamachine adapted to gather material from the ground or thefloor of a mine gallery and to load the same upon a vehicle such as amine car.

It is an object of the invention to provide a loading machine peculiarlyadapted to the loading of mine cars in a mine gallery.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a machine of theclass referred to having a loading boom and a gathering boom wherein theweight of the gathering boom is in a large measure supported by theframe of the truck upon which the same is mounted and in which thegathering boom is supported in a lesser degree by contact of itsgathering end with the ground or the floor of the gallery.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the classreferred to wherein the gathering boom has a lateral swinging movementabout a vertical axis in the rear of its delivery end so as to moreeffectively deliver the material to the loading boom when swung thelimit of its movement 1nv either lateral direction.

It is a further object to improve generally upon the structure ofmachine of this character.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription when read in connection with the accompanying drawings,showing an illustrative embodi- 'ment of the invention, and wherein Fig.1 is a plan view;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the forward portion of the machine upon anenlarged scale with the rear portion of the gathering boom broken awayto show the underlying mechanism;

Fig. 2a is an extension to the left of Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the forward portion of the machine;

Fig. 3a is an extension to the left of Fig. 3;

Fig. 4 is a detail vertical section upon a still further enlarged scaletaken on broken line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2a.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive the device comprises a gathering boomand the load ng boom 11 mounted upon a truck comprising side framemembers 12 and 13 carrled by wheels 14, 15, 16, and 17, which wheels arerigidily secured to axles journaled in sliding blocks bearing the weightof the mach1ne through coiled springs 18 in a well known manner.

The frame of the truck also comprises cross members 19, 20, 21, rigidlysecured to the side frame members 12, 13.

To support the booms for lateral swinging movement, the cross framemember 20 is shown as provided with a hollow trunnion 22 about which thebearing member 23 of the gathering boom swings and a supporting member24 for the loading boom rests upon the upper end of the trunnion 22swinging about a bolt 25 passing through the trunnion, a nut 26 beingprovided upon the bolt 25 to retain the supporting members 23, 24thereon.

The supporting member 23 is provided with a machined surface at 27 whichis slidable upon a machined surface 27 formed upon the upper portion ofthe cross member 19, which cross member is shown as overhanging theframe of the truck to extend the range of movement of the gatheringboom.

To mount the gathering boom upon the member 23 for vertical oscillation,bearings are formed in upwardly projecting lugs 28, 29 and trunnionsrigidly carried by the frame 30 of a motor are journalled in thehearings in the lugs 28, 29 the shaft 31 of the motor housed in theframe 30 being journalled in the said trunnions so that the verticaloscillation of the gathering boom is about the axis of the shaft of themotor.

To support the frame of the gathering boom 10, hearing brackets 32, 33,34, 35 are cast integrally on the frame 30 of the motor and are providedwith elongated slots 36 through which bolts 37 are passed, which boltspass through T-shaped members 38 whose horizontal members overlie thelower flange of channels 39 comprising the frame of the gathering boom.

By the described arrangement, the sprocket chains 40, 41 of thegathering boom may be tightened by loosening the nuts upon the bolts 37and by sliding the frame of the gathering boom upon the bearings 32-35.To slide the frame of the gathering boom upon the bearings 3235, thereare shown bolts 42, 43 passing loosely through the member 44 rigid withthe frame of the gathering boom and having screwthreaded engagement withthe brackets 33, 34 whereby tightening the bolts 42, 43 will result indrawing the frame of the gathering boom forwardly to tighten theconveyor chains.

To drive the conveyor chains the motor shaft 31 is shown as provided atits opposite ends with the bevel gears 45, 46 in mesh with gears 47, 48keyed upon shafts journaled in bearings 49, 5O rigidly carried by thebrackets 33, 34, said shafts having upon their rear ends bevel gears 51,52 in mesh with gears 53, 54 keyed upon vertical shafts 55, 56, whichshafts carry at their upper ends the sprockets 57, 58 for drive of theconveyor chains 40, 41 respectively. The described drive for thesprockets 57, 58 being taken from opposite ends of the motor shaft willresult in a motion of the conveyor chains in the direction shown by thearrows in Fig. 2, said chains being provided with cantilever gatheringmembers 59, 60.

To cause lateral swinging movement of the gathering boom 10 there areshown flexible members as cables 61, 62 which may be secured at theirends to fixed members as screw jacks placed between the roof and thefloor of the mine gallery, the flexible members passing about sheaves63, 64 and winding upon drums 65, 66.

To cause movement of the drums, the drums are keyed upon sleeves 67, 68journaled in hangers 69, 70 bolted to a member 71 extending transverselyof the machine, which member 71 is rigidly secured by means of brackets72, 73 shown as bolted to bearing brackets 74, 75 rigid with thebrackets 3235. The sleeves 67, 68 carry upon their inner ends the outerdrums 76, 77 of disc clutches, one set of plates of each clutch beingarranged to revolve with the drums 76, 77 To drive the remainin set ofdiscs of the clutches, the shafts 8, 79 are journaled in the sleeves 67,68 andin the worm wheel housings 80, 81, said shafts having worms keyedthereon, the worm wheels housed in said housing, the worms in meshtherewith being keyed upon shafts 82, 83. The said worm wheel housingsare shown as rigidly bolted to the transverse member 71.

To drive the shafts 82. 83 there are shown gears 84, 85 keyed to theshafts and in mesh with bevel gears 86, 87 keyed upon shafts journaledin the members 74, 75, which shafts bear upon their rear ends, the gears88, 89 in mesh with the gears 45, 46 upon the motor shaft.

To opearte the clutches for control of the drums 65, 66, there is showna shaft 90'having keyed thereon gears 91, 92 in mesh with gears 93, 94,having screwthreaded engagement with the sleeves 67, 68, as shown in thebroken away portion of Fig. 4.

To rotate the shaft 90 there is shown a sprocket chain 95 operating asprocket keyed upon the end of the shaft 90 and passing about a sprocketupon a shaft 96 controlled by hand wheel 97. The discs are so arrangedthat in a neutral position neither of the clutches will cause the drums65, 66 to revolve. If the hand wheel 97 be revolved in one direction thegear 93 will be caused to deliver a thrust upon the hanger 69 and forcethe sleeve 67 to the right as shown in Fig. 4, thus actuating the clutchand causing the drum to wind the cable 61. Opposite rotation of the handwheel 97 will actuate the clutch drum 77. When either of the drums 65 or66 is in operation there will result a motion of revolution of the handwheel 97 but due to the great reduction brought about by gears 93, 91and gears 94, 92, the motion of the hand wheel will be so slow as to beunobjectionable.

To further connect the frame of the gathering boom with the support ofthe driving mechainsm there is shown a member 98 bolted to said frameand bolted to the member 7'1 through elongated slots 99, 100 by means ofbolts 101, 102. lVhen the tension of the chains 40, 41 has to beadjusted, the bolts 101, 102 will be loosened at the same time as arethe bolts 37 and the movement of the gathering frame will not interferewith the mesh of the gears hung upon member 71 by virtue of theconnections 72, 73 of said member with the frame of the motor.

For support of the loading boom upon the member 24 for vertical swingingmovement, bearing members 103, 104 are formed integral with thesupporting member 24, said members carrying trunnions upon which theframe of the loading boom is journaled and shaft 105 is journaled insaid trunnions, sprockets 106, 107 being keyed upon said shaft for driveof the chains 108, 109, which chains carry the flights 110 forconveyance of material upwardly in the loading boom. For drive of theshaft 105 bevel gear 111 is keyed thereon in mesh with gear 112 uponshaft 113 driven through a reducing gear 114 by motor 115. The motor 115and reducing gear 114 are as shown carried by the side of the frame ofthe loading boom.

The rear end of the supporting member 24 is shown as bearing uponrollers 116, to provide for lateral swinging movement at the end of theloading boom. The weight of the loading boom is shown as supported byelliptical spring 117 being carried thereby through the medium of asaddle 118 having screwthreaded engagement with a screw 119,

ing boom swings laterally about a point which may be revolved through aworm gear 120 operated by hand wheel 121 to adjust the elevation of theloading boom.

To drive the truck, there is shown a motor 122 supported between theframe members of the truck, driving a sprocket 123, said sprocket beingdriven through chain 124 by a sprocket 125 keyed to the shaft 126 of themotor. The shaft 127 upon which sprocket 123 is mounted, extendstransversely of the truck and drives the rear axle through sprocket 128,chain 129 and sprocket 130 upon the axle. The remaining end of the axleis shown as hearing a sprocket 131 driving a chain 132 which drives thefront axle through sprocket 133.

In transportation of the machine through the galleries of a mine, whenit is necessary to pass around a curve in the mine gallery, the loadingboom may be manually swung laterally to enable the machine to follow thecurve. By virtue of the fact that the loadin the rear of its deliveryend and that the receiving end of the loading boom is near a verticalline below the delivery end of the gathering boom, the gathering boomwhen swung to the limit of its movement of lateral oscillation will atall times be delivering material toward the center of the gatheringboom, an apron 134 being provided to guide material into the loadingboom. 7

A pony truck 135 is shown slidably carried by the frame of the gatheringboom which may be lowered into contact with the rails of the track uponwhich the machine moves to take the weight of the front end of thegathering boom when the machine is to be transported upon the track.

When the pony truck is elevated for operation of the machine, the shoeat the front end of the gathering boom will rest and slide upon theground or the floor of the mine gallery and a considerable portion ofthe weight of the gathering boom and its mechanism will be borne uponthe front end of support 23 slidable laterally on the surface 27 andcross member 19, with consequent yielding of front springs 18. The frontend of the gathering boom is thus free to follow irregularities in thesurface upon which the shoe slides followed by more or less yielding ofsaid front springs 18.

This partial support of the boom on cross member 19 is important as itreduces the wear on the shoe and reduces the power necessary to causethe continuous lateral swing of the front end of the boom duringoperation.

The pony truck 135 is mounted for sliding movement upon the frame of thegathering boom by support of the frame member 137 upon rods 138 fastenedto the frame of the gathering boom, the member 137 being provided withbearings 139, 140 engaging the rods 138.

To raise the pony truck out of contact with the rails upon which themachine rests, when the machine is'to be transported, the rods 13s areshown as formed with rack teeth 141 and a shaft 142 carried by themember 137 has keyed thereto pinions 143 engaging then'ack teeth, theshaft 142 having squared ends for engagement with a crank or cranks notshown.

To hold the pony truck in its raised or lowered position, there is showna double acting pawl 145 coacting with the teeth of a ratchet wheel 146keyed upon the shaft 142.

The operation of the device will be clear from the above description.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the inventionwithin the scope of the appended claims without departing from thespirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a supporting frame, amotor mounted on said frame with its shaft transverse thereto, agathering boom, material gathering mechanism carried by said boom, meansfor mounting said boom on said frame for vertical oscillation about theaxis of the motor shaft, and means for driving said mechanism from saidshaft.

2. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a supporting frame, amotor mounted on said frame with its shaft transverse thereto, agathering boom, means for mounting said boom on said frame foroscillation about the axis of the motor shaft and for lateraloscillation about a vertical axis, a conveyor chain mounted for travelon said boom, driw'ng means partaking of the movements of oscillation ofsaid boom for driving said chain from said motor shaft, driving meanspartaking of said movements for causing lateral oscillation of said boomand driven from said motor shaft, said respective driving means locatedon opposite sides of said motor shaft to be substantially balanced aboutsaid axis of vertical oscillation.

3. A'loading machine comprising, in combination, a vehicle chassis, agathering boom, material gathering mechanism carried by said boom, asupport for said boom mounted on said chassis for movement about avertical axis, a motor mounted on said support with its shaft extendinghorizontally transversely thereof, means for pivotally mounting the boomon said support for vertical oscillation about the axis of said shaftand means for driving said mechanism by said motor shaft.

4. A loading machine comprising, in C0111- bination, a vehicle chassis,a gathering boom, material gathering mechanism carried by said boom, asupport for said boom mounted on said chassis for movement about avertical axis, a motor frame, a motor housed in said frame with itsdrive shaft transverse to said support, means for mounting said frame onsaid support for oscillation about the axis of said shaft, means tomount the frame of the boom on said motor frame for vertical oscillationtherewith and meansrigid with said motor frame for driving saidmechanism from said motor shaft.

5. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a wheeled chassis,resilient means to mount the chassis on its wheels, a gathering boom, asupport for said boom mounted on said chassis for lateral oscillationabout a vertical axis adjacent the rear end of the boom, a substantiallyhorizontal bearing for said support on said chassis adjacent its frontend intermediate the length of said boom, said bearing permittinglateral movement of oscillation of the boom relative to the chassisabout said vertical axis and a ground engaging shoe upon the front endof the boom whereby said shoe may follow inequalities of the ground withyielding of said resilient means.

6. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a frame, a gatheringboom, a conveyor chain traveling on said boom, a motor mounted forsupport by said frame with its drive shaft transverse thereof, a housingfor said motor, said gathering boom adjustable longitudinally of saidframe with respect to said housing and a shaft for driving said chainfrom said motor journaled in a support rigid with said housing wherebythe tension of said chain may be varied by said longitudinal adjustment.

7. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a frame, a gatheringboom, material gathering mechanism carried by said boom, a motor housinghaving a motor therein with its shaft transverse to said frame, asupport for said housing and boom mounted on said frame for oscillationabout a vertical axis, means to mount said housing on said frame forvertical oscillation about the axis of said shaft, means to mount saidboom on said housing and means to drive said mechanism from said shaft.

8. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a vehicle chassis, agathering boom, a pair of spaced conveyor chains mounted to travel onsaid boom their inner flights moving upwardly thereon, a su port forsaid boom mounted on said chassis or oscillation about a vertical axis,a motor frame, a motor housed in said frame with its drive shaftstransverse to said chassis, means to mount said frame on said supportfor oscillation about the axis of said shaft, means to mount said boomon said frame, a pair of vertical shafts journaled in bearings rigidwith said frame, means to drive one of said vertical shafts from eachend of said motor shaft in a direction opposite to the rotation of theremaining vertical shaft and means to drive the chains from therespective shafts.

9. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a vehicle chassis, agatherin boom, a conveyor chain mounted to travel t ereon, a support forsaid boom mounted on said chassis for oscillation about a vertical axis,a motor frame, a motor in said frame with its drive shaft transverse tosaid axis, means to mount said frame on said support for oscillationabout the axis of said shaft, said boom mounted to move with said motorframe, means rigid with said frame to cause lateral movement of saidboom about said axis in one direction and means rigid with said frameto'cause the opposite movement of said boom, means to drive saidrespective movement causing means from the respective ends of said driveshaft, means to place said drive means selectively into operation andmeans to drive said chain from said motor shaft.

10. A loading machine comprising, in combination, a vehicle chassis, amotor frame, a motor housed in said frame with its drive shafttransverse to said chassis, means to mount said frame on said chassisfor lateral movement relative thereto, a gathering boom carried by saidframe, a pair of spaced conveyor chains mounted to travel on said boomwith their inner flights moving upwardly thereon, a pair of vertical.shafts for drive of the respective chains journaled in bearings rigidwith said frame, a bevel gear keyed to each end of said motor shaft, apair of shafts mounted in bearings rigid with said frame each of thelast named shafts geared to drive one of said vertical shafts, means tocause lateral movement of said boom in one lateral direction driven fromone of the first named bevel gears and means to the opposite lateralmovement driven from the remaining first named bevel gear and means toselectivelv control said lateral movement.

FRANK E. CHRISTOPHER.

